Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Eleven Plus Exams

Well most of my summer has gone tutoring my daughter for these dreadful exams.

I found this video useful to explain the concept to one of my students.

Hope you find it useful!

Monday, August 09, 2010

Families in Transition

1. A moved from Taipei to Singapore
2. A moved from Mumbai to New York
3. A moved from Dubai to Singapore
4. A moved from Oman to Kochi
5. A moved from Taipei to Kualalumpur
6. A moved from Taipei to London
7. C moved from Taipei to Beijing
8. C moved from Nagoya to Chengdu
9. D moved from London to Kochi
10. D moved from Taipei to London
11. D moved from Dubai to Hongkong
12. G moved from Taipei to Portland
13. M moved from Taipei to North Carolina
14. M moved from London to Mumbai
15. N moved from Taipei to Bangkok
16. N moved from Mumbai to Singapore
17. P moved from Taipei to Dhaka
18. S moved from Mumbai to Wellington
19. S moved from Seoul to Beijing
20. S moved from Singapore to Sydney
21. S moved from Riyadh to Singapore
22. S moved from Jakarta to Hongkong
23. S moved from Taipei to Washington

I just listed most of the families that moved this summer who was personally known to us. Its amazing how Families transition each move. If you think they sound exciting , every move is equally painful in terms of logistics and all these are families who move their homes to new countries some of them which they may have never been to or heard of. Some movements are even across continents and a typical transition will take between 3 to 6 months from getting household effects shipped to the children finding their new friends in the next environment.

While most of the moves as is obvious are world class cities there are some like a move to Chengdu can be very daunting. It’s a city where you are likely to have not heard of or wondering what kind of schools and homes you would find and another 5 dozens questions that would follow with a typical move.

In this world of networking I feel very privileged sometimes how you can help out…so when my friend was moving to chengdu and it was announced on FB my first reaction was “Oh my God “ that’s a difficult move with two preteen girls to a city where English Language would be a rarity.I quickly responed that I knew two families who had moved there previously in 2007 and 2008 without any idea whether they still live there. Much to my surprise I immediately got am email saying she would be grateful if I can put her in touch with them.

So I did what I am at best dug out emails dating back over 5 years and hoped they still worked. I wrote to one of them and almost got an immediate response and also confirmed they lived there …..wow! It’s a great feeling if you help some one when you live so far away.